Family of Worcester native who was killed by police in Brazil starts human rights drive

The aunt of a Worcester native killed in Brazil by a police officer has announced a campaign to bring awareness to the high rate of deaths in that country at the hands of police.

Elizabeth Martin has named the campaign "Don't Kill For Me, Safe Games for All" with the hope the international community will demand change in advance of the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2014 World Cup, which will be hosted by Brazil.

"They're saying they're cleaning house and they're killing on our behalf," she said in a telephone interview from her Boston home. "In terms of the World Cup and the Olympics, it becomes a larger message for people to say this isn't how we want (police to be preparing for the events)."

Ms. Martin cited recent studies showing that police in Brazil, and especially in Rio de Janeiro, are poorly trained and act with military force, often killing criminals and civilians rather than placing them under arrest.

Her nephew, Joseph E. Martin, was killed in front of a nightclub in Rio the night of May 25, 2007, while celebrating his 30th birthday. He had been living in the country for about two years while teaching English.

Authorities made the case that 22-year-old Officer Joao Vicente Sa Freire was defending himself against Mr. Martin, but witnesses reported Mr. Martin was trying to stop the officer from shooting a young person who had stolen a woman's purse.

"It's been excruciating," Ms. Martin said of trying to cope following her nephew's death.

The officer was held in custody briefly and soon returned to duty. In 2010, he was put on trial and acquitted of charges of manslaughter, and in a twist of fate was gunned down in a Rio restaurant a few months later, leaving no chance of an appeal or re-opening the case.

There have been several reports published laying out recommendations to lower the rate of police killings in the country, and Ms. Martin said there are several groups in Brazil who are pushing for those changes.

However, she believes that it will take wide international awareness to force the country to do so.

Between 2003 and 2009, police in Rio and São Paulo killed more than 11,000 people, according to researchers in a report published by the United Nations Human Rights Council in mid-2010. Noting those cities, the report author wrote that "citizens in certain parts of Brazil live in fear of police violence and militias just as much as they fear violence from drug trafficking gangs and criminals."

The author made the case that killings by police "remain at unacceptably high levels, with perpetrators continuing to enjoy impunity." Many times, they are reported as "resistance" killings, meaning that police killed the person while they illegally resisted arrest or disobeying other lawful orders of police.

"The police don't contest the fact that they are killing civilians," Ms. Martin said. "What they contest is the reason."

The night he was killed, Mr. Martin reportedly put himself between the armed officer and the young man and challenged the officer, saying, "What are you going to do, shoot me?"

In the year Mr. Martin was slain, there were a reported 1,330 total killings by police in Rio which fell under that category, the UN study showed. According to a separate report, the Rio police were responsible for nearly 20 percent of homicides in 2008.

The international Human Rights Watch organization reported that police in Rio killed one person for every 23 that they arrested in 2008. The UN publication attributed that to police using excessive force.